Let me give you some information on the health care situation here. I am sure my nursing buddies will find this interesting and sad.
The nurse to patient ratio at AKUH is 5:1 in special care wards (non-ventilated patients), 2/1:1 for ventilated, 15:1 in general care wards (acute medicine, general surgery, etc). Each 1-2 nurse has a nursing assistant. Now this is just the ratio at AKUH and this hospital is one of the best ones in Karachi. In another government-owed hospital, there are not enough ECG techs that untrained hospital workers are doing it. However, they are still being interpreted by doctors. However, it is not safe when ECG's need to be interpreted ASAP and no doctors are around. There are not enough nurses for the amount of patients that are being admitted. The situation with nurses is that of retention. Nurses get their education here but move to Canada or the States for whatever reason. At the AKUH only, if a patient is unable to pay for their medical services their financial records are reviewed and they are given assistance accordingly. These are not loans where individuals have to pay back. It is similar to welfare assistance. How fair is to turn someone away from medical service on the basis of lack of monetary resources? If it is a life and death situation, will you seriously be waiting for your cheque? Sadly, this situation is true for most part of Pakistan. It is not a simple case-it is very complicated with various factors to consider. AKUH's mandate is to provide health care and social services to all regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, religious affiliations and social class. Some of the health care challenges in Pakistan are similar to those in other developing countries: malnutrition, prevalence of communicable diseases (TB, Malaria, Gastrointestinal diseases, etc), respiratory infection (mostly due to pollution). My cousin who is a nurse at AKUH told me a very shocking and sad story which i would like to share with you all. Since he works in the pediatric ward, the was caring for a small child who was bitten by a dog. He was taken to a nearby government-owed hospital, where he received an injection for rabies. As it turned out, the young boy was given the wrong treatment. He was then rushed to AKUH for emergency treatment. He did not make it. This is so common in developing countries! Wrong treatment, wrong patient, poorly-trained medical staff, etc etc. We may not want to admit this but there is a good deal of corruption involved as well. The situation is so complex and needs a variety of stake holders to properly assess this situation. I mean we are taking about preventable issues here! We all must be concerned about this just as we are concerned with killing of innocent people in warfare. Its time we focus our attention on collective efforts and work as a larger human community. Just a few things I want you to chew on. Please feel free to comment.